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FRANCE JOBIN

scènes

FAVORITES OF 2017 – Experimedia

Canadian sound artist France Jobin returns for her third album on LINE. Scènes is a touching and elegant tribute dedicated to her dear friend, Finnish musician Mika Vainio who passed away on April 12, 2017 at the age of 53.

France Jobin is a sound / installation / artist, composer and curator residing in Montreal, Canada. Her audio art can be qualified as “sound-sculpture”, revealing a minimalist approach to complex sound environmentswhere analog and digital intersect. Her installations express a parallel path, incorporating both musical and visual elements inspired by the architecture of physical spaces. Her works can be “experienced” in a variety of unconventional spaces and new technology festivals across Canada, the United States, South America, South Africa, Europe and Japan.

Jobin has created solo recordings for popmuzik records (JP), bake/staalplaat (NL), ROOM40 (AU), nvo (AT), DER (US), ATAK (JP), murmur records (JP), Baskaru (FR) and the prestigious LINE label (US). Jobin’s sound art is also part of countless compilation albums, notably on the ATAK (JP), bremsstrahlung (US), Mutek (CA), murmur records (JP), and/oar (US), tsuku boshi (FR), everest records (CH), and Contour Editions (US) labels. She is also featured in the influential book and recording, Extract, Portraits of Soundartists (book + 2 cd), released on the nonvisualobjects label (AT). The collaborative album ligne, created with sound artist Tomas Phillips, was released on the ATAK label (JP).

Her installations and screenings have been shown internationally at museums and festivals. Her work P Orbital released on LINE (Valence, LINE054) was presented in the context of ESCUCHAS, a first sound art exhibit for the Museum of Modern Art in Medellin, Colombia. P Orbital was also presented at CONTEXT-ing / Listening as CONTEXT at the Miami Art Fair in Florida, Call & Response, London Uk as well asat the Haunted formalism exhibit in LA curated by Volume.An invitation to the AIR Artist-In-Residence program in Krems, Austria enabled her to create und transit, a sound installation set in the MinoritenKirche cloister in Stein (AT).Her two ongoing collaborations with visual artist Cédrick Eymenier (FR) have resulted in EVENT HORIZON, an audio/video piece, and The Answer, a movie, with the soundtrack by France Jobin and Stephan Mathieu. EVENT HORIZON was screened in Paris (2010), at the Venezuela Biennale in Merida state (2010) and was performed live at the Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles (2010) and ISEA RUHR 2010 (DE). The Answer was screened at IAC, Villeurbanne, France in March – May 2016. In 2011, Jobin was one of five international artists selected to present her sound installation, Entre-Deux, in the new media exhibit Data/Fields, curated by Richard Chartier at Artisphere in the Washington, DC area, along with Ryoji Ikeda, Mark Fell, Caleb Coppock, and Andy Graydon. Her proposition received critical acclaim from the national press. Entre-Deux has recently been presented at N38E13 in Palermo, Sicily (2017). Her latest audio visual collaboration: “Mirror Neurons” with sound artist Fabio Perletta (IT) and xx+xy visuals (IT) was screened as a world premiere at A x S / ak-sis / FESTIVAL 2014 | CURIOSITY as part of the Synergetica Screening in Los Angeles in September 2014. In October 2015, France was invited to take part in an artist residency at EMPAC (Troy,NY) which resulted in the creation of a new light sound work entitled 4.35 – R0 – 413, a collaboration with Alena Samoray, lighting designer. Her latests installations, ‘Inter/sperse’ and ‘Entre/temps’ both premiered in Italy. ‘Inter/sperse’ is a site specific installation created in the context of an international residency organized by Museolaboratorio, LUX and farmacia901. It opened May 27 2017 at Museolaboratorio, Città Sant’Angelo Italy. ‘Entre/temps’ is a site specific installation commissioned by Enzo De Leonibus, artistic director of the EaRrEtMeI festival which opened in Palena, Itally, June 4 2017.

She initiated “immersound”, a concert event/philosophy, which proposes the creation of a dedicated listening environment by focusing on the physical comfort of the audience within a specifically designed space. The premise of “immersound” is to seek out/explore new perceptions in and experiences of the listening process by pushing the notion of “immersion” to its possible limits. She created and produced “immersound” from 2011 to 2015 at Oboro in Montreal.

She was a finalist at the Sonic Arts Awards 2014 (IT) in the Sonic Research category. In January 2013, the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM) awarded the prestigious Opus Prize for Concert of the year to France Jobin for her concert at AKOUSMA 8.

Jobin’s work continues to evolve as technologies enable her to create new environments.

REVIEWS OFscènes

The various interlocking scenes of experimental and ambient music are geographically dispersed but nonetheless close-knit, and the effects of significant events in these genres ripple out far and wide. Such was the case with the untimely death of Mika Vainio, a founder of Pan Sonic and producer of numerous landmark recordings under his own name and the moniker Ø, in April 2017. scènes is Canadian sound artist France Jobin’s tribute to her friend, offered in her own distinctive language of minimalist ambient music.

The album fades in with a warm breathing chord, joined later by steadier tones. The music is quiet and subdued, barely there at times, before returning with slightly more intensity. The second ‘scène’ is more present, with major key tones gently tumbling over one another. A repeating melodic motif injects more energy, though the piece remains fairly quiet. The sense of calm and peace is palpable across the first half of the album, derived from major key harmony, low volume, and an unhurried pace.

The minor-key drone and fluttering, trembling tones of ‘scène 3’ make it the only track on the album to resemble a typical musical expression of grief. Mid-way through the piece, the drone fades almost to the point of inaudibility, then returns with stiller, more stable tones, losing some of the earlier distraught quivering. ‘scène 4’ also flutters, but rather than sounding distraught instead pulses with energy; to me, its driving rhythms feel like a positive celebration and affirmation of life. Music needn’t shy away from pain or grief, but it is also able to remind us why we struggle. scènes is able to look sorrow in the eye, but at the same time remembers the good, and holds on tightly to the light.
(fluid-radio.co.uk)

With Scènes, Montreal-based sound artist France Jobin has created an elegiac collection of drones and tones, layered with emotion. Unobtrusive enough to serve as background ambience, the album works even more effectively as music for deep listening. There is a sad stillness at the heart of these pieces, with subtle changes either amplifying or slowly altering ones experience, like shifting shadows from the setting sun.
(shadowandsound)

ethereal and elusive (and also digital-only) is France Jobin‘s Scenes, her third album for the label: four Scènes created on the Serge and Buchla 200 modular synths as well as the Nord modular, with additional processed guitar played by Marco de Leonibus).

France Jobin is a ‘sound-sculpturist’ from Montreal, Canada, with a ‘minimalist approach to complex sound environments where analog and digital intersect.’Apart from her releases on Line, she has previously released music on labels like Staalplaat, Room40, Baskaruetc. and is internationally renowned for her installations and screenings at museums and festivals.

Immersive (drone) pieces, each with relatively short length (varying from 7 to 15 minutes, 42 minutes in total), wrapping around you like a warm blanket.
(ambientblog.net)